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Vanishing Manhood: Part 16

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Vanishing Manhood:
Part 16
The end of the cruel Peace & the start of the desperate War.

Based on ‘One In Ten’ by FinalStand. Listen to the

► Podcast at Explicit Novels.



A

frightened Mother Mouse will devour her young; similarly, a frightened culture
will devour its future.

Roni was still working away while the rest of us were in the

man-cave once more. Flame seemed happy taking long pulls on the Wild Cherry and
smacking her lips. I wasn't surprised she wasn't worrying about Silent. Her
wounded comrade was a reliable pair of guns guarding her back and nothing more.
Emotional bonds were contrary to her psychopathic nature.

Jethro had been sitting on his 'throne' for fifteen minutes,

deep in thought.

"I guess it is about time we got those guns," he

announced as he stood up. His words captured everyone's attention yet he didn't
appear to care. He started walking from the room and the rest of us followed
along. The need for guns had brought us here in the first place.

His path led us into his walk-in pantry. One wall of shelves

rolled out and to the sides on seamless wheels. Beneath that spot was a steel
door, a tad over one meter wide and three meters long. It must have been
spring-loaded because once Jethro yanked on the hole that only one finger could
fit into, the portal swung open and back.

Stairs led down into darkness. Jethro turned around and

followed them out of sight for several seconds. Then a light came on. The drop
looked to be around four meters. Angel went next. A strange level of respect
allowed me to go third. Flame was at my back then Kuiko, Venus and Lavender.

The floor was grey-painted concrete. The room stretched out

five meters in each direction. 80% of the room was covered with stacked crates
with a variety of markings on them, a few even in English. Angel was incredibly
tense. I didn't know why, but I had a feel for her moods. The other 20% of the
room was an immaculate workbench.

Considering Jethro's aversion to cleanliness, this was

definitely something noteworthy.

"What is all this stuff?" Venus asked.

"Weapons," Angel preempted the old guy.

"This is an awful lot of weapons," Lavender

muttered. No one wanted to say it, so I did.

"Jethro, you were in the MRA, weren't you?" I

tossed out there. I'd told the nation that the MRA was dead and here I was
looking at a small armory of illegal weaponry. Jethro had been walking over to
the work area. He turned and looked us over.

"I'm going to do something I don't normally do,"

Jethro met each of our gazes.

"I'm going to explain myself. Let's pull some assault

rifles out of those crates, make sure they in top shape then go upstairs 'cause
I am only going to do this once," he stated.

"These people don't know how to use firearms,"

Angel cautioned angrily.

"They'll never learn if they don't have one and we are

approaching the point where we'll need everyone to be a shooter," he countered.
"Let's get to it."

And that's what we did. These weapons had been top rate

stuff at the start of the 21st century. Now, they weren't quite antiques, only
old. The basics of using some sort of explosive substance to propel an object
at your target remained the same. In the case of firearms, it was remarkably
the same, or so Angel said.

Kuiko went straight for the Russian-made Surface-to-Air

missile, because she thought that the Cyrillic writing looked pretty. It was
one of the few exotic devices. Most were clearly Federation military, or Police
issue, undoubtedly stolen from some armory at some point early in Jethro's
terrorist career.

I was irate that Kuiko looked so cute with a bandolier of

ammo packs and an automatic shotgun. Angel insisted that only she and Jethro
took loaded firearms upstairs. We could carry the gun and the ammo as long as
the ammo wasn't in the gun. Venus argued that this defeated the purpose of
having the weapon.

Angel countered that if she couldn't load it quickly, she

probably shouldn't have it in the first place. I caught Flame bagging up a few
boxes of ammunition, but Jethro didn't seem to care so I let it slide. It fell
to Flame and me to lug extra rifles and cartridge belts up to the rest of the
group, being the strongest, Angel was keeping an eye on Jethro and he was
keeping an eye on her.

Fifteen minutes later, we had gathered back in the spacious

dwelling space of our host. Jethro, on his throne, finished off a glass of Wild
Cherry and began his tale:

"I was seventeen and in high school when the Gender

Plague first broke out. I was quarantined for a month before the Supreme Court
decided it was illegal and set us men free.

I took the opportunity to enlist in the Navy, the U S Navy,

because of the man shortage when I was released. Went through Basic, the
Specialist School, I was a Damage Control Technician which meant I was a
fireman, then a second outbreak happened. I was quarantined for three months
this time.

I got out and was assigned to the destroyer Michael A.

Mansoor. During the Relief of Athens, we all damn near died. Of the eighteen
men and women in Damage Control, only me and one other rating enlistee
survived. My officer, an ensign, stayed behind to make sure the forward
ammunition storage was secure. Our Chief Petty Officer had us seal the ensign
in. We saved the ship long enough for the crew to be pulled off.

The Mansoor exploded. We were never able to locate her body.

She was some R O T C kid who was only with us four months. I never knew her
first name until the ceremony after it was all over. She may have been the
bravest human being I've ever known. After that, I served aboard the Little
Rock working anti-piracy in the Philippines and Indonesia.

Since I took part in some land action during that tour, the

Navy, I hate using the term Federation, reassigned me to Shore Patrol duty. I
took police training and everything. I did another tour aboard the Little Rock
the following year then they dragged me off when Congress decided that men
couldn't be given combat assignments.

Seven months later, they discharged me and thousands of

other men as part of a down-sizing program. Unfortunately, the same act of
Congress that exited me from the Navy also forbid me joining the fire, or
police departments. A buddy of mine was able to find me work in a machine shop
where I learned the craft of welding.

After that, I was a good boy. I dated, joined a motorcycle

club and built up a nice life. When the Gender Inequality Act was passed I was
more annoyed than angry. All that changed when I was twenty-nine. See, I had
some male friends who joined up with a group called Male Awakening. They were a
group devoted to the repeal of the G I A through political means.

Things including publically supporting male-friendly

candidates and working against G I A-supporters through boycotts and the like.
I was rolled up in an FBI sting and those ladies informed me that they'd make
those charges go away if I agreed to go inside and spy on Male Awakening. They
knew I was friends with those guys. I told them to fuck
off, fought the charges and beat their trumped up bullshit.

By the time I cleared up my legal troubles, they took the M

A down anyway. It seems their Treasurer took off with their funds after leaving
some financial irregularities. That was a total load of crap because they never
caught that guy, but they did manage to put away most of the group's
leadership.

A few months later, I ran across one of my buddies who had

asked me to join Male Awakening. He'd heard about my troubles and over a few
beers, he hinted that the fight wasn't over. This time I bought in. This
incarnation didn't have a name. We weren't public. We dug up dirt on corrupt
female officials by any means necessary.

We destroyed the careers of the worst oppressors of men.

Violence wasn't our aim yet we armed ourselves for what we knew would be a
harsh crackdown. We operated in small cells, but I knew we had lawyers, judges
and even a few Congresswomen on our side. Since we had bracelets by that time,
we used women to communicate between cells.

Our cell received word of the major Federation sweep, a day

before it happened. We were able to move most of our material stashes to new
locations before they fell on us. The Writs of Exclusion were abominations. No
one ratted me out. For weeks I sweated bullets every time I saw a cop car, a
mysterious unmarked car, or heard a siren.

After a few months, I began searching for other survivors.

We came together in secrecy, united in our fury. The Federation had broken
every law and covenant so we agreed that waging a guerilla war was our only
option. A week later I bagged my first cop. Put a bullet under her left eye at
80 meters. She was dead before she hit the ground and it felt good.

They, the Federation, had murdered my country and now they

were paying. Three days later, I waited for a Federation agent to walk out on
her porch to see her little girl off to school. I walked up, told the little
girl her mother was a whore and put nine slugs into that whore's body and I
felt just fine about that too."

"No," squeaked Kuiko.

"That is the way it was," Jethro gave Kuiko a

paternal look. "Those women came at me with every dirty trick they could
come up with to take away my freedom and I put them in the grave for it."

"You murdered people," Angel growled.

"Fuck you, Cop. The Gender Inequality Act was passed by

women to enslave men. No man ever voted on it," Jethro snarled. "Men
tried to use the system so you cheated. Boohoo that your bosses didn't figure
out our only option left was violent resistance."

"I killed seventeen government officials and my only

regret is I didn't kill more. Not one was a fair fight. Kuiko, I killed that
bitch in front of her daughter because I wanted her buddies to come around and
see the anguish on that little girl's face. I wanted them to worry about their
own daughters. I wanted them to know they were at war."

"You are a murdering scumbag," Roni snapped.

"I disagree," Flame shook her head. "You are

morons if you think he should have called out every freaking target and said
'hey, I know you have all the back-up in the world and I'm alone so I'm giving
you ample warning that I'm going to try and kill you.’"

"You are a psycho," Aniqua pointed out. "It

figures you would agree with him."

"He didn't have a choice," Samantha intervened. Her

speaking so decisively was almost as stunning as her words themselves.
"Having a gun might not have saved Israel against the Aurora Slasher, but
it might have discouraged those sorority students."

"The politics of payback," Flame laughed.

"Jethro might sound like some sadistic bastard to the rest of you; not to
me. His tactics are sound and they work. Kill enough cops and women stop
joining the force. The authorities either crack down harder, bringing more over
to your cause, or they concede to some of your demands."

"It is how a very small force fights a much larger

adversary," Flame concluded.

"That's still cold blooded murder," Angel

reiterated. I didn't know what to think. Jethro butchered defenseless women.
The President doomed millions. I admired what Zara did except it was some of
the same things that Jethro did, yet she was a soldier and he was a terrorist.

"There is no resolution to this argument," I spoke

clearly and loud. "Short of violence to silence the opposition, there is
nothing we can do to rectify the past now. Jethro, why did you stop being a
member of the MRA?"

"Spokane," Jethro answered. "I had no problem

with killing cops and Feds, and intimidating their families. They were part of
the problem."

"Those high school girls though, that made no sense to

me. We weren't at war with the female gender; we were at war with the
government and their policy of enslavement. Killing random kids was wrong and I
wouldn't be associated with it. I talked this over with my cell, they disagreed
and I told them that if I saw any of them again, I'd kill them," Jethro
clarified.

"I had several caches only I knew about. I waited a few

months then moved up to the city, slowly bringing everything up here as I had
the time. A year and a half later, my old buddy was caught up in a traffic
stop, shot it out with the cops and was killed. From stuff they found on his
body, he rolled up the rest of the gang, but the other members didn't know my
real name."

"The G E D came out and talked with me. They kept an

eye on me for a few years. I behaved and grew old so they eventually went
sniffing elsewhere. We wouldn't be here now if I hadn't gone drinking with
Kuiko and let slip about my gun stash," Jethro smiled at my little friend.
"I knew she'd never betray me, and she hasn't."

"Now I've got a front row seat to the End of the World

so I get one last chance to make a difference," he said. Yeah, this old
guy wanted to go down in a hail of gunfire, no doubt about it.

"Good for you, you butcher," Roni glared. "I

won't do this."

"I signed on to make a difference," she continued,

"not to hang out with cold-blooded killers. I'm out of here. Is anyone
with me?" Aniqua stood up. Venus seriously hesitated before joining them.
Venus was looking right at me. Angel's eyes were boring holes into me as well.

"Israel?" Angel inquired.

I could go with them. I could stay. I could beg them to

stay. I could stay silent and let events drag me along. My mind was playing
Jinga with the vortex of intellectual input and buzz saw emotions that were boiling
forth.

"Angel, Roni, Venus and Aniqua sit back down," I

stood and stated. It took them a varying number of seconds to realize I was Not
pleading.

"Israel, you don't get to decide that for us,"

Roni replied evenly. "We let you go to the Arena last night. This time, we
get to choose and we are leaving. If you are the man I hope you are, you will
come with us."

"At the same time you're pressuring me to give more to

the group despite my misgivings, Roni, you are giving less?" I countered.
She started to protest. I raised my hand for a reprieve.

"Hear me out," I continued. "It isn't that

simple. I am not questioning your moral quandary about working with people too
comfortable with taking human life. It is very real and I feel it. The
difference is that you would rather be right and dead than alive at any cost.
You've never had to make that call before, but I have and I'm alive to tell you
that you are wrong, Roni."

"You are dead wrong because dead does nothing. The

living can always come back and make something better. Hell, that's what my
life has been about the past week and a half. The rest of you are neophytes
going into this. I'm not. I know exactly what it takes morally to survive.
Don't make me follow any of you out that door. I love each and every one of
you."

"I do love you, but am I obligated to jump off a cliff

for you? I respect your choice to choose suicide. It would be wrong of me to
rob you of that freedom. Please don't try to make this about affection,
compassion, or loyalty though. It is a matter of life and death. Roni, you are
trying to kill me, which I'm okay with. I resent you killing Angel, Aniqua and
Venus," I stressed.

"That's fucked

up reasoning," Roni fought back. "Those two get off on killing other
people. They enjoy it. Why can't you see that they are just as likely to get
you killed as keep you alive?"

"I will agree with you that Flame gets off on watching

people suffer and die," I nodded. "It is the way she is. I don't know
Jethro so I'm not ready to make a judgment call on him."

"I do know that both of them have exquisite weapon

skills and I'm pretty sure we are going to need them before we are truly
free," I explained. "I would prefer an all-male super commando squad
who had passed every psychological test ever made. That doesn't appear to be on
the menu, so I'm willing to hold on to whatever resources are available."

"So you are willing to risk all our lives for the sake

of expediency," Angel glared.

"Absolutely," I shot right back. "In case no

one is paying attention, I am not in some government facility helping working
on some kind of serum to fight the new plague. In case you missed it, everyone
here agreed with my decision to flee instead."

"Roni, Angel, you do realize that young lady who saved

me this morning is going to die, right? I could have insisted she come with us.
I could have given her the cure. I didn't. None of you asked me to even after I
told the whole globe of an unstoppable wave of death coming for everyone. I'm
not asking you to take responsibility for my decision because it was
mine."

"I'm begging you; understand that it isn't the end of

morality to stay. When the madness ends, you need to decide if we will still be
worthy of continuing on. You'll no longer be part of that equation if you go
now," I declared.

"Are we supposed to ignore that he was a terrorist and

she is a homicidal maniac?" Aniqua said.

"I'm not homicidal," Flame grinned. "I'm a

psychotic sociopath. I don't randomly kill people. I do it with malice of
forethought." Jethro didn't show a desire to defend himself.

"Israel, Flame almost killed you last night,"

Venus pointed out. "Why would you stick around?"

Why was I sticking around?

"Israel, don't do this," Angel said. "You

promised me you would stop running into danger."

"Angel, why do you have to be right and I have to be

wrong?" I sighed.

"Because those two are dangerous criminals," Roni

answered. Didn't Roni understand that I was a far more callous killer than
either of those 'criminals' and I didn't have to lift a finger, or look at a
single grave?

Before the Curtain Call

Shortly after nine-thirty that night, the awaited and feared

seismic event happened in China. A few minutes past sunrise over Hong Kong the
rains broke and a fleet of helicopters and V T O Ls (Vertical Take-Off and
Landing) were heard over the city. Helicopters were not unknown in this center
of wealth and commerce. Well over a hundred all coming in at once was
noteworthy.

For many of the citizens of the city, it had been a restless

night. After midnight, police sirens had been wailing all over the city. Some
even heard gunfire. What they didn't know was that for the past four hours,
private security forces working for the most prominent communities and some
special police units had raided the middle class communities of the city and
stolen their men.

They forced the men into protective suits and hustled them

back to the high-rises that sheltered the most 'important' people. This was an
outrage that they could not get away with, had China still functioned normally.
A new order based on brutal social cannibalism was taking place. The rich were
taking their vassals and their new 'acquisitions' to their estates far from the
population centers.

This was supposed to be a gradual process except late

yesterday afternoon the other Great Families learned that one of their own had
their first reported case of this new 'flu.’ They could wait no longer. They
would have preferred to flee under the cover of darkness, but rain and the
danger of so many helicopters and V T O Ls moving around forced them to
postpone until first light.

You didn't have to be a connoisseur of conspiracy theories

to figure out what was going on. Men had been stolen and now the rich were
bugging out of town in one big hurry. Late Friday, the 'flu' began to appear in
the population in a big way. The workers in the hospital were afraid, not
fearful, afraid.

The councilwoman from one of the poorest districts called

the Head of the City Council, no answer. She called one of her colleagues from
one of the richest districts, no answer. She was a savvy polit

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